


Say Goodbye

by Leni



Series: Cora's Daughter [4]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-06
Updated: 2016-11-06
Packaged: 2018-08-29 08:39:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,211
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8482789
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leni/pseuds/Leni
Summary: AR. In a world where Cora didn't marry Henry..."In the end it was laughably easy, to demand the girl as his price."





	

In the end it was laughably easy, to demand the girl as his price. Her father had blinked in shock, and then practically tripped over himself as he gave his eager blessing to be rid of the girl.

A beauty she might be, with her pleasing figure and her cold blue eyes; but her mother's reputation was counted against her, as she was unlike enough from the lord of the castle that she must be made in Cora's likeness instead. In her province, the stories about the princess secluded in her tower were not a bait for errant knights to rescue her, but a warning that bad blood was best left to itself.

Tales of bodies thrown down the window highest in the tower were common knowledge, and of a pale girl's face watching as they fell. The names her own people called her... Even the mildest of them would have a girl of finer sensibilities in tears.

From the look on their faces, no one had expected that the Dark One would appear in the throne room again, so soon after he’d rejected every offer made to buy his help, or that he would bring the Lady Belle in tow.

Eyes widened. Curious looks jumping from him, to her, to the sumptuous golden dress that sparkled with diamonds at the throat.

Even the most ignorant would intuit that no human hands had participated in the making of that cloth. He had meant to make his intentions clear from the start, and going by the growing whispers as the two of them stepped forward, he had succeeded again.

Rumpelstiltskin’s plan had been to escort Belle through the throne room on his arm, but the audience was rapt and the stage perfectly set. They were expecting a show, and while he had been glad to leave the lot as cannon fodder to the ogre wars, he wouldn’t dream of disappointing their voracious thirst for gossip. Wouldn’t it be a waste to play the gentleman when everyone had called for a monster?

He slipped his arm around the girl, placing his hand at the dip of her waist... and smiled at the loud gasps.

Nobody voiced a protest, though.

"Not very well liked, are you?" he hummed as an uneasy silence fell over everyone as they walked further in to the room. A path was quickly opened before them, people scurrying away with barely concealed haste. Used to the practice, Rumpelstiltskin spotted more than a few signs against evil performed quickly. Not in fear of the Dark One, which was mildly annoying because it should have been his due, but with their eyes averted from the small pale figure at his side.

Heir or not, they never would have hailed her as Queen.

"My, my," he murmured. "They'd rather see your head mounted than crowned. Lovely crowd."

Even as he said the words, a rare twitch of sympathy had him hoping that the girl didn't know how deep was their hatred of her. But from the haughty expression on her face, and the disdain that dripped from her every time someone made the mistake of meeting her eyes, Rumpelstiltskin knew that she was well aware of their opinion.

"They can hate me safely," she murmured back, tipping her head subtly toward the throne at her father's right.

Oh. Rumpelstiltskin could well imagine the blood bath if someone brought up Cora's indiscretions or complained about their lord's wife's cruelty. She would have her collection of hearts secreted away, and Rumpelstiltskin had no doubt that key members of the guard and among the judges would have been the first to be harvested.

A short journey to the gallows would await whoever dared speak against her.

But Belle they could insult with little risk of punishment.

Rumpelstiltskin gave the girl a quick glance, wondering whether he had just shackled himself to a spineless coward who had accepted the townfolk's judgment and was too terrified to defend their right to a quiet life. But Belle didn't cringe at the barely hidden sneers and glares. She kept walking forward, her back straight and her eyes held firm on the pair of thrones at the end of the room.

Her pretense of ignorance was the one thing she could give and be accepted.

The girl might have no fondness for these fools, but she would bear their scorn in silence if it meant there would be no more deaths.

Tender-hearted, then.

One more proof that this child of Cora's would never cast the Dark Curse.

Oh, but he could throttle that viper. First she cheated him - him! - and then she had muddied up the future. All his careful plans, all his visions and best guesses, not worth as much as a speck of dust in the present Cora's choice had created.

But he'd get the child he had been promised.

Rumpelstiltskin almost smiled as he watched that realization sweep over Cora's expression. She shot up to her feet, glaring at him before her gaze settled on her daughter. Belle shivered, but a brief squeeze of his hand served as a reminder of who had sworn to stand between her and her mother's power.

It was beautiful, to watch Cora's reaction as her anger was met by Belle's calm blue eyes. Her pampered beauty cracked, a crease deepening in her forehead. "What's the meaning of this?" she demanded.

Rumpelstiltskin grinned, his eyes were alight with devilry. "Why, dearie. I thought you'd be glad to have me here, admitting you were right."

How he’d laughed as Sir Maurice offered their treasury, and sniggered when he’d flicked his finger and turned that first gold skein back into straw! Later, during the private interview he’d been granted and been too curious to avoid, his answer had been blunt when he'd refused Cora’s attempt to bribe him. Had she actually believed that a night in her bed was worth as much as poking his tongue out at an ogre?

Now he delighted in keeping her in suspense for another moment, enjoying the hint of doubt that came over her. Oh, Cora. Pride would be her downfall; that much he’d seen in any world. "You were right,” he said simply. “It turns out that everybody _does_ have a price. Even the Dark One." He tugged the girl closer to him. "This one will do."

Belle did her part, softening against him. No dragon had ever been fed a more willing princess, he thought, letting the thought translate into a laugh.

"That... No." Cora scowled. "That's no newborn, to be bartered away!"

"Oh, I noticed." He met Cora's eyes, then deliberately turned to the girl in his grasp, running his eyes from her head to her toes with an approving hum. "She's such a... young... pretty morsel, though. Much more to my taste than your previous offer." He gave a nasty smirk. "What were you thinking, to try to tempt me with what I already... well, I obviously don't need the gold, do I?" he said, veering off a revelation at the last moment.

There was no point. It would surprise no one, to learn that Cora would have strayed from her husband.

Instead he released Belle's waist, moving his hand to flick at the elbow-length sleeve of her dress. "Don't I already make the finest gold? And let's admit it-" his fingers traveled up Belle's arm to the curve of her shoulder "-it looks better on her than hidden in my coffers."

"If you believe you'll leave with her..."

"Oh, _but I do_ ," he said, raising his voice. "She's no babe, as you yourself have pointed out. There's a deal on the table, and she's already said yes. Coming to see your husband is merely a formality..." He turned to Sir Maurice then, almost making the man jump out of his throne at the sudden attention. Rumpelstiltskin pretended not to have noticed the flash of fear, and continued, "Wouldn't want to be blamed for kidnapping an innocent, now would I?"

The expression on the lord's face betrayed his distrust in his daughter's innocence.

Belle didn't so much as flinch.

Rumpelstiltskin tapped his foot against the floor. "Well?"

Maurice glanced at him, obviously repulsed by the creature he had been forced to call on for help. It was known that he abhorred all kinds of magic. Whether that was a trait he'd overlooked when a woman had wandered into his lands, claiming to turn straw into gold, or whether it had developed since that meeting, not even Rumpelstiltskin knew. The Dark One stood for everything Maurice despised; a man of his honorable reputation wouldn't have thrown his worst enemy under Rumpelstiltskin's mercy. No man reported as a hero on the battlefield would allow this.

Yet Maurice still nodded.

Rumpelstiltskin tightened his grasp on the girl. A worthless attempt of comfort, since she hadn't moved an inch. Even her expression remained serene.

Instead it was Rumpelstiltskin who felt himself bristle. A mother's love was a weak thing, even for the women who kept a heart in their chests. He'd had enough babies pushed at him, some still wet with the birthing, to know that as true. But to see a father knowingly and willingly throw a child away...

"Louder, dearie," he hissed, his tone enough of a warning against disobedience. There would be no heroes in this story. "For those in the back."

Maurice scowled. "Take her," he rumbled. "Just take away those monsters outside our walls as well."

The sounds among the crowd were of relief. Rumpelstiltskin waited for the news to sink in, for their loss to dawn on them and the protests to start. It was one thing to hate a faceless person. But surely now...

No one spoke.

Except for Cora: "I forbid this!"

Rumpelstiltskin laughed, taking that as his cue for one last bit of mischief-making. "You forget yourself," he purred in her ear, having traveled to her side with a thought.

Her husband did draw a sword, and so did the handsome boys in uniform around the room. But Rumpelstiltskin vanished the weapons with an annoyed gesture.

“Don’t try my patience,” he said to the room, forcing himself to calm down before the little princess panicked and reneged the deal (as it was still her right, since he hadn’t yet given his half of it). But Belle was glancing at the scene placidly, no more bothered by the magic or the violence than she would have been by a pea under her pillows. Good girl. Relieved about that, Rumpelstiltskin turned his attention to his former lover. He kept his voice low, as befitted the implied admission of his past weakness. "I am _not_ a subject on my knees, my dear. I am _not_ your fool anymore. I am Rumpelstiltskin, and I will always be more powerful than you. Do you know what that means?"

Of course she did. In her mind those with power stomped at will over all others, and those without should just bend and bear their weight.

"It means you should be glad I have finally taken your child. We're even now, Cora. Take care never to be in my debt again. I won't be as... patient."

"You don't want her," she hissed.

Rumpelstiltskin raised an eyebrow. Not at her words, but because she'd frozen the room around him before she'd said them. Scared his answer, so public, would not be to her liking, hm? "Have you seen her, Cora?" He took her jaw, forcing her to face her daughter. "You made a beautiful girl... and then you broke her. Or did you?" He giggled. "Of course I want her, dearie. She's survived you with her wits more or less intact. Why wouldn't I want a rarity like that!"

Cora slapped his hand away. "She won't love you."

His laughter would have unnerved everyone within hearing. Even Cora shuddered, but composed herself when Rumpelstiltskin leaned closer to her, almost brushing their noses together. "But I'm not looking for love," he said, injecting the last word with rancor, because she could have been that woman, once, and she tossed him away. But then, abruptly, he smiled. "But revenge. Revenge I will take."

He stepped away, swiftly making his way back to Belle's side. He saw Cora motion for her court to awake, but a quick gesture of his own kept them under the spell. The only exception was made for Belle. "My dear," he said to her, taking her hand and making a show of bowing over it. He could practically see the scowl that accompanied Cora's muttered expletive, and he and Belle exchanged an amused glance at her loss of composure. "Time to go. Are you ready?"

Belle took a deep breath, but nodded.

"Any goodbyes you wish to make?"

The girl hesitated, biting her lip in her effort not to glance past him to the mother and father she wouldn't be seeing again. But she looked him in the eye, and loudly said, "No."

Rumpelstiltskin kissed the back of her hand on impulse, then again when she made no complaint, and raising his free hand in a quick twirl, commanded his magic to take the two of them away to his castle.

 

The End  
29/10/16

**Author's Note:**

> *points at comment box*  
> Please stop and comment before leaving this window. :)


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